Nick Jonas Responds to Claims of ‘Baiting’ Gay Men

Musician Nick Jonas has always embraced his gay following. He welcomes the attention and is thrilled by it. He recently appeared at a number of gay clubs in New York while promoting his new single “Jealous” and even did a cheeky striptease after his performance at one venue.

Jonas has always been fit but recently has upped his game for an upcoming DirecTV series Kingdom, where he plays a boxer. The 22-year-old singer is known for his abs and has every right to flaunt them. Jonas recently revealed in an interview with Pride Source that it wasn’t his idea to keep showing them off.

“They kind of made me do it, so I had to! But as far as my shows go, I keep it fully clothed,” he told Pride Source’s Chris Azzopardi, adding, “It was a few drinks in at that point. All bets were off.”

There have even been critics who claim the star is using his body to “bait the gay community.” Jonas responded to this saying, “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I think it’s unfortunate that some people have to find a negative in every situation. Clearly my heart is in the right place, and more than anything, if they just looked at my life and my gay friends and the authentic nature of where my heart is, they’d just see that they’re kind of ignorant.”

Appearances at gay clubs in New York have made critics question Jonas’ sexuality, but it appears the star simply wants to appeal to more LGBT fans. The singer even admitted to NewNowNext that the Jonas Brothers didn’t do enough to acknowledge their gay fans.

“Queer-baiting,” described by journalist Rebekah Bailey as “the practice of television shows and movies putting in a little gay subtext, stirring up interest for queer fans, and then pulling a No HOMO, MAN on the viewers,” is an issue that the LGBT community takes very seriously. There is already such poor representation of LGBT characters in film, television, and music, and many are hopeful that Jonas won’t add fuel to the fire.

In interviews, Jonas seems to be more progressive than queer-baiting rumors would suggest. “The nature of where we are today is, we’re in a time where we need to make strides and step forward as a society and embrace all people from all different walks of life,” he has said.